Hi Linda!! You had asked about the other two dresses I was making for Easter. Well, thanks to my having to paint instead of sew , they weren't done in time for Easter, but since the girls ended up not being home Sunday, it didn't really matter (although I'm still upset about it ). Anyway, here are the dresses I came up with (finished at 2 a.m. today ):

I had no entredeux to use on these, so I had to improvise. I'm not happy with the sleeve treatment, but didn't want to try to put lace on gathered fabric without entredeux. (Note to self: Purchase a LOT of entredeux soon!!)

The dresses are the same except for the accent colors--one likes blue, the other likes pink.

Front Yokes:

Fancy bands:

Sleeves:

I have the fabric to make slips for these, one blue, one pink, but have run into a problem: the Martha Pullen Fancy Slip runs extremely large!! I made a 3T for my DGD to go under her 3T Heirloom Party Dress and she was swimming in it! I don't know why I expected two patterns made by the Martha Pullen Company to actually be the same sizes . Silly me. Anyway, I now have to come up with proper fitting slip patterns. The girls will be home tomorrow ... that is today ... no pressure here .

Thank you, Ladies ...you are so kind! The girls were actually thrilled with them!! And the dresses fit them! That's always my concern since I don't have the children around to fit the patterns to them. I have redrafted the slip patterns many times and think I finally have them sized right. I'll try to stitch those up later today/tonight and try to get some photos of the girls wearing the outfits.

Gorgeous!!! These are real beauties MoDo! I love the sleeves and your pintucks are perfecto : ) Thanks for sharing.

For the slip, if you want to make them you could use the bodice of the dress as a pattern....then just make it longer for an A-line. Or, you could use the bodice and attach a skirt to it, but it doesn't have to be as full for the slip. Your choice.

You'd just want to take the neckline down a bit so it doesn't show when worn. Take the neckline down an inch or two so the slip doesn't show when worn. If you take the neckline down far enough, it could slip over the head. Or, just make a little slit opening in the back and a loop and button to close. I had the same situation a few years ago, and someone here enlightened me : )

OR, You could just compare the dress bodice to your slip pattern to make sure the slip isn't going to be too big. Have you been using an A-line slip pattern? A-line slips are nice, but they don't give as much support to a full skirt. You could even put gathered tulle on top of your full slip skirt, and then you'd have as much support for the dress as you want.

Thank you, Linda! You are always so encouraging . I did end up comparing the dress yokes to the slip yokes and attempted to redraft the slips that way. The good news is that the slips did end up fitting. The bad news is that in order to get them over the girls' heads, I kept having to cut fabric from the front and back necklines. And this was after the slips were stitched up! (The thought of having to make plackets on the slips was more than I could handle !)

I still had to add bias binding to the necklines and armscyes, as well as lace at the hemlines, so the slips were not finished until 11:30 Sunday night. I put the slips under the dresses on the hangars and was quite pleased with the look . Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos because I needed to pack up all my sewing equipment to prepare to leave Monday morning . I have asked my friend to take some quick photos so I can have them for my "records" .

Your recommendation to use the dress yoke pattern and add a less-full skirt for the slip is certainly one I will try for the next fancy dress. Thanks!!!

Thank you, LMC, for the recommendation. To be honest, I think it would be best for me to just go with Linda's suggestion or find a whole new slip pattern. I don't consider myself experienced enough to do too much changing of patterns.